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Orders of the Day - Thursday, November 26, 2009

As those of you who stuck around for the last bit of yesterday's meeting already know, after much grumbling and griping from the opposition over the government's blithe disregard of their repeated demands for key documents, the Afghanistan committee has agreed to hear from David Mulroney this afternoon, despite the fact that members still haven't been able to read the memos at the centre of the controversy. 

As a result, committee members now find themselves trapped in the increasingly reverse-Kafkaesque scenario that we saw unfold during yesterday's testimony by the three generals, in which it became clear that everyone at the table had read -- and, in some cases, reread and re-reread -- the material in question except for the MPs asking the questions -- the same MPs who are, at least in theory, supposed to rationalize the contradictory accounts from witnesses of who told what to whom, and when. 

Meanwhile, at least some of the still-protected content seems to be leaking out to the media, and Amnesty International has filed a formal request with the Attorney General to be released from their agreement not to disclose the material, which, if granted, would render the government's refusal to provide it suddenly, and rather spectacularly, moot. 

Although it's unlikely to have the same media draw as Mulroney's appearance, it might be worth tuning in for the last hour of Procedure and House Affairs, as the committee begins its investigation into NDP MP Peter Stoffer's claim that a Conservative ten percenter sent to his riding on the eve of last month's vote on the registry may have been sufficiently pernicious to constitute a violation of his parliamentary privilege. 

Although the MP under whose name the flyer was issued -- Saskatchewan backbencher Maurice Vellacott -- has since apologized for the incident -- in which, it bears noting, Stoffer was targeted for his opposition to the private members' bill despite having previously stated that he would vote in favour of it -- we don't yet know whether Stoffer is prepared to forgive and forget.

Over at Foreign Affairs, representatives from the Canadian mining industry will have an opportunity to share their views on a Liberal private members' bill that would impose "corporate accountability" on their operations in developing countries. Spoiler alert: They're really not terribly keen on the idea at all, and they've brought out the big guns to try to kill the bill, including former Liberal international trade minister Jim Peterson and retired diplomat Raymond Chretien, both of whom will appear under the banner of law firm Fasken Martineau DuMoulin.  

Meanwhile, the slow but steady progress of yet another private members' bill has commanded the appearance of no less an august personage than Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who goes before Canadian Heritage to discuss C-302, which, according to its title, would "recognize the injustice that was done to persons of Italian origin through their "enemy alien" designation and internment during the Second World War, and to provide for restitution and promote education on Italian-Canadian history." 

Finally, as far as House business goes, it's still Justice Week. Further bulletins as events warrant. 

Tags: blackberry jungle, orders of the day